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Years

Wikimedia Commons really is an amazing place, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a Wikimedia supporter and contributor! I can spend hours trawling through its archive of images and art.

In this case, while looking for some bread iconography with Clara (for a bad pun to insert into a group presentation), we came across an entire photographic series on bread making. Every step is there, from the initial ingredient mixing, to the dough kneading and shaping, to the baking and final presentation.

The bread the bakers are baking (how’s that for an inspired sentence) is houska, a style of Czech roll. I remember having one of these in Plzeň when we took a detour from Bavaria on our last Europe trip, and wanting to smuggle a huge bag of them home with me! The atmosphere of tucking into one of these freshly baked, warm rolls in a small café with my dad and sister while we looked outside at the snow… it had a lasting impression on me.

But back to the photos! I’m a home baker, and am always interested in seeing how others perform the craft. I’m fascinated by their mix of machinery and human touches; while you can automate the entire process and produce boring sandwich bread slices, in this process ultimately the humans still have the final say.

Thanks to Chmee2 for this great photographic series, you made my morning ^_^.